


Revenge of a Fallen Siren

by WakeUpDreaming



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Grief, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Post Burning Maze, Revenge, endgame spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 07:17:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18795568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakeUpDreaming/pseuds/WakeUpDreaming
Summary: Piper keeps hearing him call for her, seeing him in her dreams. She needs to say goodbye. Before she does what comes next.





	Revenge of a Fallen Siren

**Author's Note:**

> From Tiff aka demlgodly on tumblr for the prompt ""...Look at me. We're going to be okay. You can rest now" + jasiper :)) " which is so MEAN.  
> And this...might be a first chapter? Or it might be a standalone. We shall see.

The first time she sees Jason, it’s a dream, three days after they lost him. She sees him wander toward her, looking lost, broken, confused. There’s a gaping hole in his chest, blood pouring to the ground.

“Jason?” Piper says. She starts running toward him, top speed, using everything she has in her power to get to him.

But he disappears when she is an inch away from him, fading into nothing.

Piper sits up, shrieking, and it only takes a moment before Mellie is by her side, consoling her.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Mellie asks, but Piper can’t answer. She just wails into Mellie’s side until her father wraps her in his arms, and she stays there.

She can’t sleep for a week, and, when she finally does, it’s broken up with dreams of blood and lightning and screams. She doesn’t see his face, though. But she hopes he’s there. And that maybe, just once, she’ll save him.

She never does.

~

The second time she sees him, it’s in a daydream during a visit to Camp Halfblood.  More like a day-mare, or maybe she is asleep, but it’s in the middle of working on her Latin homework. At first, she’s just zoning out into the air, but then, out of nowhere, she hears his voice, and he appears in front of her. It’s the moment of his death, repeating. Right here in the middle of camp.

She falls out of her chair as she jumps to get him, and Annabeth has to call Will to patch up the gash Piper made in her thigh from the metal side of the desk.

“No, I’m fine.” Piper tries to push Annabeth away, tries to get away from Will, but the two of them stop her with a single glance. She stops fighting, and lets them help her. But she keeps trying to see him, and jumps every time something moves in the corner of her eye.

~

“Is she okay?”

“No, dumbass, she’s losing her mind. Look at her.”

“If you call me a dumbass again, you will lose your hands.”

“If you stop asking stupid questions, I won’t have to call you a dumbass.”

Piper wakes up to see Will and Annabeth over her, and Percy and Nico in the corner glaring at each other.

“Can you guys stop bickering?” Piper asks. “Also, why am I here?”

Annabeth frowns, just enough that Piper can tell something bad happened. Percy drops his head.

“Okay, seriously,” she moves the blanket. All four limbs are accounted for. She can see. She can hear. Her fingers and toes work. “What’s going on?”

“You had a panic attack,” Will says carefully. She knows something’s really wrong now, because he’s using his doctor voice. Usually he’s making fun of Piper instead of being so…soft. “You began yelling for Jason.”

Piper tries not to choke up. “Yeah, that happens, sometimes.”

“How often?” Will asks. “Does this happen when you’re tired? When you haven’t been sleeping or eating?”

“I –”

“She hasn’t been sleeping or eating normally for weeks,” Annabeth interrupts.

Piper glares at her. “Mind your business.”

“This is my business,” Annabeth says sternly, and it’s moments like these when Piper kind of hates her. “Your dad made me promise to keep you healthy and safe. And this isn’t healthy or safe.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Sure,” Percy says, quietly, “but you don’t have to.” He looks up at her, and it’s in that moment that she realizes he’s lost as much as she has, just in different ways. “Piper, I had the same kind of reaction after Bianca died.” He looks around. “The only thing is, I wasn’t passing out at camp. I got closure.”

Nico turns to him. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“What? It worked for both of us!”

“We almost got ourselves taken over by Midas.”

“You mean you did,” Percy corrects him. “But it gave you closure, right?”

“What are you two talking about?” Will asked. “Because if you’re going to keep arguing, I’m kicking you out.”

Annabeth is staring at Percy and Nico. “Are you really thinking –”

Piper throws off the blanket and stands up. Sure, she’s a little woozy, but she can stand, at least. “Just tell me what the option is, and I’ll decide if it’s a good idea for me or not.”

“Nico can raise the dead,” Percy explains.

“Yes, but it’s not, like, a first option.” He says. “It’s not always the right idea.”

“Got any better ideas?” Piper asks.

Everyone is silent. Piper stares down each one of them, saving Nico for last, because he’s the only one she really has to convince.

She can tell the moment he relents. “Maybe we can get Jason, just for a few minutes,” Nico says, his eyes the softest Piper’s ever seen them. “Just enough for a true goodbye.”

Piper is stunned into silence for just long enough that she worries she might pass out again. “Okay,” she decides. “Yeah, okay. Let’s do it.”

Nico sighs. “We’re gonna need a LOT of McDonalds.”

~

The last time Piper sees Jason, it’s surrounding a muddy pit of dollar menu items from McDonald’s, and she’s picking at some chicken nuggets. Nico pokes her hand.

“That’s for Jason, stop eating,” he says, but there’s a little smile on his face. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she replies. He raises an eyebrow. “No. Of course I’m not okay. But I’m dealing.”

He nods. “I get that. You’re coping better than I did when Bianca died. I went all Darth Vader, or whatever the sibling equivalent is.”

Piper nods.

“I still don’t think this is the best idea,” Nico says, “you never really know what you’ll get.” His eyes dart down to the pit. “You could be drawing up something other than Jason. It may be his spirit, but not the Jason you know.”

“Again, nobody had a better idea,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “And if he’s coming to me in these dreams, then I’m sure it’s for a reason.”

He nods. “I believe you. Just…know this may not be easy.”

“I know it won’t.”

“Nico,” Will says, voice shaky, “you better come see this.”

Nico drops the milkshake in his hand and turns to the pit. “Ah, there we go.”

“Is he here?” Piper asks. She’s suddenly freezing, and wraps her arms around herself.

“Here, Pipes,” Percy says. He puts his jacket around Piper’s shoulders. She smiles at him in thanks.

“Almost,” says Nico. “Just a little more…”

She stares at the pit for longer than she thinks is healthy for her eyes. Nico is staring in similar concentration, but he’s muttering something and Will is standing next to him, hovering protectively. Now, though, Nico doesn’t push him away.

Then it happens. A soft pale glow is drawn up from the ground, but it’s not floating or graceful. It’s almost like something is being pulled, dragged. It reminds her of that time Will had to pop Percy’s shoulder back into its socket, somehow.

Then the pale form solidifies. Strong, familiar. Hers.

“Jason,” Piper breathes.

Everyone but Piper and Nico backs away from the pit. Nico stays close to the ground, not stopping his chanting even for a moment.

“Pipes?” And there’s that voice, that perfect, quiet voice again. Piper can’t hold back a sob. “Piper, where am I?”

“You’re at camp,” she manages to stay.

“But I died,” he says, and he looks down at himself. Even in this ghostly form, he’s bleeding from the gaping wound. There’s arrows still sticking out of him. “Oh. Yeah. I died.” He looks at Piper. “Why doesn’t it hurt now?”

“Because you’re a ghost, or something.”

Jason frowns. “Should I be here?”

Piper shrugs. “I don’t know. I needed – I needed to see you again.”

“That probably wasn’t the best idea,” Jason says. “I feel – this doesn’t feel right.” He frowns. “Am I allowed to be here?”

“No,” Nico interjects, “but rules haven’t stopped me before.”

Jason laughs, low and loving, and Piper would do anything to hear that voice for real. “Sounds like all of us, right? Rules are for the weak.”

“I miss you,” Piper says, because she can’t joke right now. She can’t pretend. And she can see the sweat beading on Nico’s forehead, the effort it’s taking him to control the power so it’s just Jason who can come up out of this makeshift grave and nobody else. “I just – I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Jason says. “It’s what we train for, right? Dying in a battle like that is an honor.”

“True,” Piper says, “but it leaves a lot to be desired for us on this side.”

He reaches out for her and she reaches too, but they pass through each other like wind through fallen leaves. “You don’t need me,” he says. “I wish – I wish I were still there, but you don’t need me anymore. You’re okay.” He turns around, and finally addresses everyone. “Right?”

“Okay’s a stretch,” Percy says. His arms are around Annabeth, whose face is streaked with tears. Will is barely holding it together, too, hands shoved in his pockets, jaw clenched. “But, yeah, man. We’ve got this.”

“Look at me,” Piper says, and Jason meets her eyes, “I just – I wanted to say that…” She trails off. “We’re going to be okay. You can rest now. I won’t call you again. I just –” She closes her eyes. “I needed to make sure you knew that.”

He smiles at her. “Keep an eye on everybody, okay, Piper?”

She nods. She can’t help it, though, she has to add one more thing. “I love you.”

He nods. “I kind of want to Han Solo this and say, ‘I know’, but it’s the wrong moment. Love you too, Piper. Always will.” He furrows his brow. “Something – this isn’t – Nico? Piper?”

And he’s gone.

Nico collapses to the ground, right into Will’s waiting arms, and Will’s there.

“And here we go again,” Will says, wiping his eyes. He rests Nico over his shoulder, fireman style. “I’ll go put him to bed, let him rest. You…” He looks around. “You guys take some time to grieve, okay?” He sends them one last smile as he walks away.

“So there’s that,” Percy says. “Still wish we could have gotten the others out here.”

“Chiron would have figured out what we were doing,” Piper says. “It had to be now.” She looks up at the sky, and thinks she can see the Huntress constellation – Zoe, another legend now, another casualty of a war none of them asked for. “We didn’t have much of a choice.”

Silently, Annabeth hugs her, and Piper hugs back, but holds herself at a slight distance. Just a bit.

“Anything you need, Piper, okay?” Percy says. He pulls her in for a hug and, just for the smallest of moments, Piper feels like she might be happy again. With Annabeth and Percy around her, she can almost pretend it’s alright.

But it’s not.

“I’ll see you guys later, okay?” Piper says. “I’ve got to – I just need some time alone.”

Annabeth nods.

When she’s finally alone, Piper pulls the coin out of her pocket, the one she took from Jason when she realized he was well and truly gone.

Flipping it, she turns it into his sword. She brandishes it, getting a good look. It’s heavy in her hand, but that matches her heart, so she figures she’ll build the muscle to wield it. Maybe not as well as he did, but well enough.

“I’m no avenger,” she says, walking to the tree where she hid her backpack of supplies, “but I’ll make this right, Jason. I will take them all down.” She leaves Percy’s jacket on the side of the pit, folding it neatly like a final goodbye. And she leaves.

~

“She’s gone,” Annabeth says, and the finality in her gaze makes Percy’s stomach roll.

“Gone?” he asks. “How can she be gone?”

“She never went back to the cabin,” Lacey says, looking concerned. “She said she was going to stay in the infirmary tonight.”

Annabeth sits down heavily on a bench around the fire. For the first real time, he can see the bags under her eyes, the exhaustion. He wonders, briefly, if this is what she looked like when he was gone.

“We’ve got to find her,” Annabeth says, eyes locked on the flames, “we need to figure out where she’s going.”

“I’ve got an idea.”

They turn around, and there, looking like they’d been standing there the whole time, are Meg McCaffrey, the human formerly known as Apollo, and Grover Underwood, looking a little beat up, a little worse for wear, a little miserable.

“She’s going after the Emperors,” Apollo says. Percy still doesn’t like to think of this kid, who he could throw over his shoulder and dunk in the pond without any difficulty, is actually Apollo. “She’ll probably want to kill Caligula a thousand times, just to get even.”

“By herself?”

Apollo shrugs. “Hell hath no fury like a woman who watched her ex-boyfriend die on the battlefield.”

“This is not time for your stupid poetry, you half-assed excuse for a god,” Annabeth snarls.

“Whoa, there,” Percy says, and he steps in between Annabeth and Apollo, mainly because he knows how fast Annabeth could straight up murder Apollo if she really wanted to, and that it would look bad on their college applications to answer “yes” to “have you ever committed a felony.” “Apollo, please don’t antagonize Annabeth. She is very good at murder.”

Annabeth looks at him. “That’s the weirdest compliment you’ve ever given me, but okay.”

“We’ve got to find her,” says Meg, and she looks like a little kid again, miserable and sad and alone. “She’s not safe on her own.”

“None of us ever are,” Annabeth agrees. “What do you say, Percy? One more quest before college?”

Percy sighs, because, apparently, this is his life forever. “Why the hell not?”


End file.
